Obama’s Social Security Talk Turning Voters Off: Majority now trust Republicans on Social Security!

[Better Believe It]

Obama’s Social Security Talk Is Turning Voters Off, Pollsters Say
By Dan Froomkin
January 19, 2011

President Barack Obama's apparent willingness to consider cuts in Social Security benefits may be winning him points with Washington elites, but it's killing him with voters, who see the program as inviolate and may start to wonder what the Democratic Party stands for, if not for Social Security.

That's the conclusion of three top progressive pollsters who spoke to reporters Wednesday at a briefing sponsored by the Economic Policy Institute, the Century Foundation and Demos.

"For the public, cutting benefits is the problem, not the solution," said Guy Molyneux, a partner at Hart Research Associates.

A post-election poll by Celinda Lake's Lake Research Partners found that, by a margin of 3 percentage points, Americans now trust Republicans in Congress more than Democrats when it comes to Social Security -- surely the first time since the program became a signature issue for the Democratic Party in the 1930s.

The public favors congressional Republicans over Obama on Social Security by an even larger 6-point margin. Obama's 26-percent rating is not only less than half Bill Clinton's (53 percent), it's even lower than that of George W. Bush (37 percent), whose proposal to privatize the program went down in flames.

Read the full article at:

http://www.nationalnursesunited.org/news/entry/obamas-social-security-talk-is-turning-voters-off-pollsters-say/#


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President, Dem lawmakers diverge on Social Security
By Alexander Bolton
January 19, 2011

The president has indicated a willingness to make significant changes to Social Security, while congressional Democrats are wary of his striking a deal with the GOP on the popular entitlement program.

Senior White House officials have told Senate Democrats that raising the Social Security retirement age and changing the calculation for cost-of-living adjustments are “on the table” but no final decisions have been made, according to Senate sources.

Strategists for congressional Democrats fear this could create permanent Democratic minorities in the House and Senate.

New polling by Lake Research Partners of 1,200 voters nationwide shows that strong majorities of Democrats, Republicans and independents strongly oppose cutting Social Security benefits to reduce the federal deficit.

“He’s probably listening to his economic team, who seem to hate the middle class and put all their time and effort into trying to satisfy Wall Street,” said Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.).

Read the full article at:

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/138991-obama-dem-lawmakers-diverge-on-social-security-


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Democratic Pollsters: Social Security Overhaul Could Help — and Hurt
By John D. McKinnon
January 19, 2011

Proposing a Social Security overhaul in his State of the Union speech might improve President Barack Obama’s chances of holding onto the White House in 2012. But it could sink his party’s hopes of winning anything else, Democratic pollsters warned at a roundtable on Wednesday.

Reducing future Social Security benefits might appeal to some deficit-conscious suburbanites and independents, the analysts suggested. But it would multiply Democrats’ problems among seniors and blue-collar whites, two groups that already have turned against the party in recent election cycles.

“You may have a calculus… that says you can win a presidency based on the upscale suburbs or younger voters, but you cannot take back the House without doing better with seniors, and doing better with blue-collar whites,” said pollster Celinda Lake. “You cannot keep the Senate.”

The event was organized by the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, and highlighted Democratic strategists’ fears that they are losing a longstanding advantage among voters – especially seniors – on retirement-security issues.

Read the full article at:

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2011/01/19/democratic-pollsters-social-security-overhaul-could-help-and-hurt/

[eleny]

1. That's what happens when you have only two major political parties

[Enrique]

2. maybe that was the goal

what was standing in the way of the dismantling of Social Security? The fact that one party had preserving Social Security as its highest priority. If that's no longer the case, then the program is toast.

[lumberjack_jeff]

3. I trust republicans to do what they do. I'm less inclined to trust democrats to do "what they do".

Republicans are douchebags. That's their thing. Democrats represent working folks... or I thought they did.

[Dhalgren]

4. And yet he will forge ahead, strengthening Wall Street at the

expense of the working class. Austerity for us and increased riches for the bosses.


Yeah team!

:eyes:

[emilyg]

6. +1

[DJ13]

5. The Republicans are cowards when it comes to enacting their own ideas

The Democrats enact the Republican ideas for them (see Clinton for an example).

With that in mind which side can we trust now?

[snooper2]

7. You are slacking on your daily quota

You need to find 4 more negative articles before 5:45EST

[Dhalgren]

8. Just to counter the mindless cheerleading, right?

:eyes:

[Better Believe It]

10. And you are now on ignore.

Since you'd rather engage in personal attacks rather than civil debate and discussion.

If you have nothing to contribute to discussions why should anyone see or read any of your comments?

[snooper2]

11. Sweet!

that means you can't see this :P

[xchrom]

9. Recommend

[Still a Democrat]

12. No one paying attention believes Obama is more inclined to cut than Republicans

If Americans are trusting Republicans more on social security these days, it's because of their messaging - "we are the party that is fiscally responsible enough to cut it so it remains solvent and doesn't go away altogether, etc."

Pretty silly to think it's because people believe Republicans are less inclined to cut.

[w4rma]

16. Did it get cut under 8 years of Bush and a Republican Congress? No.

Why is it more likely that it will get cut under Obama and a Democratic Senate, then? Maybe people are beginning the believe that we are better off with Democrats in the minority.

[SidDithers]

13. Dupe....nt

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x230851

Sid

[GinaMaria]

14. For the public, cutting benefits is the problem, not the solution

Thank you! That pretty much sums it up.

[vssmith]

15. What has Obama ACTUALLY said about SS?

[JuniperLea]

19. Ha! I asked that before...

"crickets" and circle arguments... just like with DADT. And once Obama DOES say something, it will be all about the "It's about fucking time!"

[Better Believe It]

20. He said all cuts proposed by his deficit commission members are on the table to be negotiated.

And Obama appointed hard core anti-social security deficit hawks to his deficit cutting commission who proposed cutting social security along with Medicare, Medicaid and other social programs.

Guess you didn't hear about that.

Would you like some relevant links to catch up on the news?

I take it you may have been out of the country for most of the last year.

[vssmith]

22. Thank you for your kind words

[Better Believe It]

23. If you really are unaware of the facts I presented I'm sorry.

And if you are aware of those facts why do you ignore them?

[vssmith]

26. Here is a fact for you

Since its inception in 1937 Americans have contributed $2.5 trillion more to SS than they have received in benefits.

The info can be found at: http://www.ssa.gov/history/tftable.html
(Note that the data in this table are in millions)

[JuniperLea]

17. Again?

How many times are you going to post this crap?

[bullwinkle428]

18. What a double-edged sword this is turning out to be.

[Buns_of_Fire]

21. I agree that his economic team seems to hate the middle class...

“He’s probably listening to his economic team, who seem to hate the middle class and put all their time and effort into trying to satisfy Wall Street,” said Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.).

...but as to what the President thinks, I'm willing to wait another five days to find out from the horse's mouth what he's got on his mind. Yes, I know he's the one who appointed his economic team, yes, I know he appointed people like Alan Simpson to the Catfood Commission, and yes, that makes me a little wary of the whole setup. But I'll wait a few more days.

I guess I'm just getting too old to whip myself up into a righteous froth until I know whether or not I should buy an extra bottle of Geritol for the occasion.

[defendandprotect]

25. Of course, Obama picked that team by mistake ... didn't know what he was doing?

[defendandprotect]

24. When might Americans figure out that it is doubtful that they can trust ....

either of the corporate parties?

Love to have that proved wrong -- come on Obama -- show us you're going to uphold

the ideals of the Democratic Party for 60-70 years now -- to protect Social Security --

not cut it!